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Friday, May 9, 2014

WHOSE BABY IS IT, MAMA?

A  mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.  (Genesis 2: 6, 7)

Genesis 2 says that God formed man in the womb of the earth.  But the earth did not CREATE man.  God did. 

From the mist watered dust of Pangaean Africa, the Lord shaped a man, but it was only a shape until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  Man was on the earth and of the earth.  His work was with the earth. 

But Man was not made by the earth or for the earth. 

Man was made by God, in God’s image, to serve God’s purpose.

In the beginning man’s meaning, our destiny was found beyond the womb that birthed us.

Some things never change.

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You,
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made…
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them. ( Psalm 139: 13-16)

Biological mothers have the great privilege of participating in the Divine work of creation.  A baby, a child, an original image of the eternal God is fashioned inside of them.

Inside a mother, but not BY a mother.

God said that, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.  Before you were born I sanctified you.”” (Jeremiah 1: 5)

Who formed you?  Who knew you first?

Now take a deeeep breath.

Mothers don’t make babies.  God does.

A mother to her child is as vital as the earth, but a child’s identity, purpose, and destiny can only truly be found beyond the womb that birthed him.

For a season of 17 years or so, mothers have stewardship of Divinely created life in the person of their babies.   For that season, Mom, you are steward of God’s image. 

Steward, not owner.

I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb You have been My God.  (Psalm 22: 10)

Mama, your job is to guide your children to God from their birth, to teach them to know the Lord from their earliest movements in the womb until the moment they exit your home for adulthood.

They’re yours, but they don’t belong to you forever.

Bring them up so that you can let them go.  Love them so well that they can leave you.  Provide for them such a home that they can build their own without you.

Don’t handicap your children with co-dependency.  Don’t tie them in knots of guilt or poison their marriage prospects to keep them near.  With such strategies you may keep them close to you, but you will take them far from their God-given purpose.

And that’s hard.   But not just for you.

Hannah, the mother of the great prophet and king-maker Samuel,  agonized over her obligation to  set her son on the path to his destiny, a path that would separate them for months on end.

Hanna said, “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.” (1 Samuel 1: 27, 28)

Notice Hannah’s language.  She couldn’t bring herself to say that she was GIVING Samuel back to God.  She called it a loan.  She struggled within herself, but she let Samuel go.   Hannah didn’t just release her child.  She delivered him ---- to God.

Through pregnancy you labor to bring forth a baby who can survive outside your body.  Through motherhood you labor to deliver an adult who can survive outside your home.

The God-ordained mission of motherhood is  to bring your children up in such love, instruction, and example that when the time comes for them to pursue their destiny you deliver into the world an adult who understands that he/she does not belong to Mama.

They belong to God.

I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother …and your mother …, and I am persuaded is in you also. (2 Timothy 1: 5)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

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Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

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